Top Gun: Maverick

Plot

Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, has been project testing a new aircraft under the leadership of Rear Admiral “Hammer” Cain. After a disaster which sees a prototype aircraft destroyed, Mav is reassigned, back to “Top Gun” – now as the trainer by his old friend and high ranking officer Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.

They have been given a (seemingly impossible?) mission… to destroy a uranium enrichment plant before it becomes operational, and Mav has only weeks to train the recruits on how to fly a dangerous terrain.

One of the recruits, just happens to be Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of his late friends Carole and Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.

Direction

Sensational direction from Joseph Kosinski, who had previously directed Cruise in Oblivion.

The action sequences, as well as the cinematography (by Claudio Miranda). The flying sequences match that of the original.

Cast/Characters

A stacked cast, with Tom Cruise returning as the role of Pete Mitchell.

Miles Teller plays the role Rooster.

Jennifer Connelly plays Penny, who is a love interest from Mav’s past.

Jon Hamm plays Vice Admiral “Cyclone” Simpson, who oversees Top Gun and its mission. He is very good, and perhaps a bit typecast as the surly almost antagonistic ‘good guy’. I’ve seen him in a few roles like this (Richard Jewell).

Among other recruits that Mitchell oversees are; “Hangman” (played by Glen Powell), “Bob” (played by Lewis Pullman), Phoenix (played by Monica Barbaro).

Val Kilmer returns in an all too brief one scene as Iceman – who is also severely ill from cancer. Sadly this was his final performance.

Ed Harris plays Cain, who appears briefly early in the film.

Breakdown

While this is one of those ‘unnecessary’ sequels that were clearly made because of the personality of the lead star… but what we got was such an epic feat of film making, you wish we had it years earlier.

While Pete has very much an “Ethan Hunt” vibe to him, this is forgiven as much of the film has an overwhelming amount of nostalgia and heart throughout it. We also find out why Pete is still just a captain at his age, continuously being reckless and being unable to promote, and refusing to retire.

The revelation that one of Mav’s recruits just so happens to be the son of his best friend Goose (who he still seemingly harbors guilt over his death), was a solid creative choice (even if it was a little cliche). I loved the flashbacks to the first film where Mav was reminiscent on Goose’s singing Great Balls of Fire, while Rooster was singing the same song.

I found the fractured relationship between Mav and Rooster somewhat odd too, as Rooster had clear animosity towards Mav for the death of his father (even though historic evidence showed Mav was not to blame). This is further exasperated during the movie when Mav withdraws Rooster from the program (a promise to Rooster’s mother on her deathbed, to keep him safe, rather as punishment for poor performance).

There is a solid narrative that is both believable (Mav was called back to run top gun by Iceman), and the ‘mission’ being brought forward. While cliche, it is presented extremely well.

There is a very touching moment mid movie with Mav and Iceman, who are clearly still friends. This was especially hard to watch given Kilmer’s own severe illness, having battled throat cancer in the years leading up to this. Iceman’s death later in the film is even more poignant now that Kilmer too has passed on.

There are some genuinely tense moments, especially in one of the many training exercises where one recruit blacks out, and there is a bird strike immediately after.

To lighten the mood there are the odd comedic moments, such as Mav’s early scene after crash landing he heads to a diner to find out where he is and a small boy says “earth”, and later in the film when Mav and Rooster are in a stolen plane and cannot read the instruments.

A couple of downs I personally found were, that the film felt too safe. While some of the characters do have ‘near misses’ – there are no fatalities throughout the film (other than Iceman). All the team get back safely after the mission (well there is the Mav being shot down sequence, but they’re not going to kill off Mav in a movie called Maverick).

I also didn’t really like the character of Penny. While she was at least somewhat age appropriate, she didn’t feel as progressive as Charlie was from the first film, who was essentially the flight trainer.

Overall

While this is ‘just another Cruise vehicle’ – he once again shows how dedicated he is to his craft, by going the ‘whole hog’ with what he puts on screen.

Great performances, with enough nostalgia, heart (and due to real life events) and drama.

I would have loved it if the creative team made some tougher “character safety” choices, and I didn’t love the character of Penny.

A near perfect film regardless of these downs.

4.5/5

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